GAINESVILLE, Ga. (May 5, 2014) – The North Forsyth High School team of Cole Cloud and Ronnie Warsop brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 17 pounds, 13 ounces to win the 2014 Georgia State High School Fishing Championship on Lake Lanier. The win earned the team the title of state champions and advanced the team to a future High School Fishing conference championship.

“We used a jerkbait early in the morning to get things started, then switched to a Carolina rig to try and catch some bigger fish later in the day,” Warsop said. “We ended up culling four different times, but we still weren’t sure if we had enough weight to win.”

“We figured that we had around 15 pounds, but we didn’t know if that was going to be good enough,” Cloud added. “We are very excited to be moving on to the conference championship.”

Cloud and Warsop also won the Lew’s Big Bass Award and a pair of brand new Lew’s Reels with a bass weighing 4 pounds, 11 ounces.

The 2014 Georgia State High School Fishing Championship was a two-person (team) event for students in grades 9-12. The top 10 percent from each TBF/FLW state championship field will advance to a High School Fishing conference championship along with the top 3 teams from each of the six 2014 High School Fishing Opens that coincide with the 2014 Walmart FLW Tour. The top 10 percent of each conference championship field will then advance to the High School Fishing National Championship, coinciding with the TBF National Championship and an FLW Tour stop in the spring of 2015. The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.

In addition to the High School Fishing National Championship, all SAF members nationwide automatically qualify for the world’s largest high school bass tournament, the 2014 High School Fishing World Finals, held on Lake Dardanelle in Russelville, Ark., on July 15-19. At the 2013 World Finals more than $40,000 in scholarships and prizes were awarded. Visit HighSchoolFishing.org for details.

“It was all bed fishing,” said Witten, a senior majoring in Recreation and Tourism. “We had a mix of smallmouth and largemouth. We caught them throughout the day, but we probably had around 15 pounds in the first couple of hours and just barely culled after that.”

The pair said that they found most of their bed fish in the lower end of the lake while prefishing on Thursday and Friday.

“They were all kind of random,” said Bowling. “We’d just throw in there and see what would make them mad.”

“We figured we were going to be close to the win,” said Bowling. “But, it’s Smith Mountain Lake and someone could have found some better fish. We had a pretty good idea that we were going to be in contention, though.

“This is actually my first FLW event,” finished Bowling. “To win it is amazing. Justin is a good friend of mine and it’s great to fish with someone who can show me how it’s done.”

College Fishing is free to enter. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.